Health Law and Policy Commons^™

Psychosocial Factors Of Covid-19 Impact Oral Health, Neeru Ramaswami Bds, Ms, Mph

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

The impact of psychosocial factors on oral health during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates an interdisciplinary approach to patient care. This article, part of National Children’s Dental Health Month, focuses on adolescent oral health and eating disorders, authored by experts from the University of Michigan. With a dramatic increase in eating disorders among Michigan adolescents during the pandemic, especially affecting transgender and diverse youth, identifying such issues is crucial. General dentists, in an ideal position for interaction, can play a vital role in addressing these challenges, emphasizing the need for continued education and collaboration.

Fourth Amendment Issues And Covid-19 Tracking, Brooke A. Banks

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The note argues that the special needs doctrine does not justify warrantless government access to cell site location information (CSLI) for COVID-19 tracking, as individual privacy interests outweigh public health benefits. It advocates for voluntary, privacy-protective measures, such as opt-in apps, to balance privacy and pandemic response.

Honoring The Public Trust: Curbing The Bane Of Physician Sexual Misconduct, Rebecca H. Allensworth, K. S. Sindhu, Et Al.

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The Federation of State Medical Boards defines physician sexual misconduct as any "behavior that exploits the physician-patient relationship in a sexual way." Although several attempts have been made in recent years to clarify its incidence in the United States, physician sexual misconduct is almost certainly underreported. Physician sexual misconduct represents a severe and irreversible violation of the compact underlying the patient–physician relationship and can have far-reaching consequences on the lives of patients and their families. In addition, the credibility of and trust in physicians, both essential to the provision of medical care, could well erode in the eyes of the …

Survival Voting And Minority Political Rights, Douglas M. Spencer, Lisa Grow Sun, Brigham Daniels, Chantel Sloan, Natalie Blades

Publications

The health of American democracy has literally been challenged. The global pandemic has powerfully exposed a long-standing truth: electoral policies that are frequently referred to as "convenience voting" are really a mode of "survival voting" for millions of Americans. As our data show, racial minorities are overrepresented among voters whose health is most vulnerable, and politicians have leveraged these health disparities to subordinate the political voice of racial minorities.

To date, data about racial disparities in health has played a very limited role in assessing voting rights. A new health lens on the racial impacts of voting rules would beneficially …

Essential But Ignored: Covid-19 Litigation And The Meatpacking Industry, Alexia Brunet Marks

Publications

The spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) among meatpacking employees forced closures and slowdowns at many plants across the United States. As the meatpacking giants JBS, Smithfield, and Tyson became hotbeds for COVID-19, national meat production plummeted. To forestall further supply chain disruptions, former President Trump passed an Executive Order compelling plants to continue operating as “essential businesses.” As work continued, employees reported that social distancing and mask-wearing were not being enforced, managers were pressuring sick employees to work and not revealing co-worker’s infections, and an overall lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or training to reduce the risk …

A Critique Of Expertise For Health Law, Aziza Ahmed

Faculty Scholarship

A health justice approach requires a progressive critique of expertise. This article considers two recent high-profile cases – the mask mandate and medication abortion -- to understand how we should think the mobilization of expertise in the context of public health law. Following from this, the article offers news ways to better understand how to think of the relationship between health law, expertise, and politics.

Asking Too Much: The Ninth Circuit’S Erroneous Review Of Social Security Disability Determinations, Stephen E. Smith

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Disability determinations made by the Social Security Administration’s administrative law judges are subject to judicial review by Article III courts. By statute, these courts apply the “substantial evidence” standard of review on appeal from the agency. The substantial evidence standard is a forgiving one that defers to the findings of the agency. But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has modified this standard. It now reviews certain categories of SSA findings not only for substantial evidence, but for support by “clear and convincing reasons.” This heightened standard of review is facially at odds with the statutorily mandated substantial evidence standard. …

'The Perfect Shouldn't Be The Enemy Of The Good' — What Canada Can Do Today, Tomorrow & Next Week To Enhance Equitable Access To Covid-19 Biopharmaceutical Interventions, Matthew Herder

Reports & Public Policy Documents

There is overwhelming evidence of inequitable access to a range of COVID-19 targeting biopharmaceutical interventions, including not only vaccines but also anti-viral drug therapies, diagnostic tests, and various materials that are incorporated into these products. As recently explained by Yamey et al. in the British Medical Journal, inequitable access is baked into every phase of the biopharmaceutical system—from production and allocation to affordability and deployment. Yet, it is still possible to improve access to these critically important biopharmaceutical interventions in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Intellectual property (IP) rights are one crucial site where policy intervention can make an immediate …

Educating The Whole Physician: The Case For Teaching The Business Of Medicine, John J. Locurto, Adam V. Ratner

Faculty Articles

The century-old medical education paradigm emphasizes the basic sciences and clinical training. While this traditional approach churns out physicians with deep knowledge and technical proficiency, it does not prepare them for the business of practicing medicine. By omitting the business of medicine from their curricula, medical schools squander a chance to ready their students for the commercial, regulator, and legal environments in which they will treat patients. The cost of this omission is more than just a missed opportunity. Unprepared students are prone to exploitation, frustration, and burnout. While there may be no easy way to bridge the gulf between …

Staff Matters: Evaluating Performance During Covid-19 And Staffing Shortages, Jodi Schafer Sphr, Shrm-Scp

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Amidst COVID-19 and staffing shortages, evaluating employee performance requires a nuanced approach. Recognizing the impact of pandemic stress, leaders must balance feedback with understanding. Acknowledge the challenges, celebrate achievements, and discuss growth areas collaboratively. Adjust expectations, focusing on essential issues and fostering a positive, forward-facing environment. Tailor evaluations to individual contributions, addressing concerns constructively. Prioritize one-on-one conversations to convey appreciation and align goals, ensuring a supportive workplace.

J Mich Dent Assoc January 2022

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Monthly, The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association brings news, information, and feature articles to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. No publication reaches more Michigan dentists! In this January 2022 issue, the reader will find the following original content:

• A cover feature, “Eating Disorders in Adolescents: Facts and Recommendations for the Oral Health Team”
• An introduction to the Pediatric Health Series, “Psychosocial Factors of COVID-19 Impact Oral Health”
• A DEI Feature, “Inclusion of the Mobility Impaired in Our Community”
• A 10-Minute EBD, “Factors Impacting Gingival Margin Position Following Esthetic Crown Lengthening”
• News you need, an …

Righting A Reproductive Wrong: A Statutory Tort Solution To Misrepresentation By Reproductive Tissue Providers, Yaniv Heled, Hillel Y. Levin, Timothy D. Lytton, Liza Vertinsky

Scholarly Works

Fraud, misrepresentation, and other unfair trade practices plague the market for human reproductive tissue. The sale of sperm, eggs, and embryos is virtually unregulated in almost all states, and courts have been inhospitable to victims. As a result, children are born with genetic disorders that impose extreme financial and personal hardship. Proposals for direct government oversight have, for the most part, failed to gain traction, and litigation has yielded inadequate remedies.

This Article assesses these problems and proposes model legislation that would eliminate doctrinal obstacles to holding unscrupulous reproductive tissue providers liable. By making it easier for parents to bring …

Unlimited Medical Liability?, Jessica L. Roberts, Leah R. Fowler, Paul S. Appelbaum

Emory Law Journal Online

No abstract provided.

Evolving Beyond Reasonable Accommodations Towards "Off-Shelf Accessible" Workplaces And Campuses, Karla Gilbride

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

One of the hallmarks of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), which prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of disability, is that it defines “discrimination” to include “not making reasonable accommodations to the known mental or physical limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability.” This concept of reasonable accommodation was seen as innovative in two ways. It recognized that employers must sometimes take affirmative steps or make adaptations to afford individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to apply for and perform jobs. And it identified the failure to take such affirmative steps as a type of …

The Role Of State Attorneys General In Improving Prescription Drug Affordability, Michelle M. Mello, Trish Riley, Rachel Sachs

Scholarship@WashULaw

Impact litigation initiated by state attorneys general has played an important role in advancing public health goals in contexts as diverse as tobacco control, opioids, and healthcare antitrust. State attorneys general also play a critical role in helping governors and legislatures advance health policies by giving input into their drafting and defending them against legal challenges. State attorneys general have entered the prescription drug affordability arena in both these ways—for example, by initiating lawsuits relating to price fixing by generic drug manufacturers and defending state laws requiring disclosures of pharmaceutical prices. Yet the scope of their collective efforts is not …

New Innovation Models In Medical Ai, W. Nicholson Price Ii, Rachel Sachs, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

Scholarship@WashULaw

In recent years, scientists and researchers have devoted considerable resources to developing medical artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Many of these technologies—particularly those that resemble traditional medical devices in their functions—have received substantial attention in the legal and policy literature. But other types of novel AI technologies, such as those related to quality improvement and optimizing use of scarce facilities, have been largely absent from the discussion thus far. These AI innovations have the potential to shed light on important aspects of health innovation policy. First, these AI innovations interact less with the legal regimes that scholars traditionally conceive of as …

Romanian Government Will Implement Measures To Prevent Further Violations Of Rightsof People With Mental Health Conditions Or Disabilities In Accord With The Decision Of The European Court Of Human Rights, Tesa Hargis

Human Rights Brief

On June 21 and 22, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Romania discussed reform measures based on various judgements delivered during the nine-year period between 2012 and 2021. At issue before the ECtHR’s Department for Execution of Judgments was insufficient legal protection, lack of medical and social care, deficiencies in the legal framework governing involuntary placement, inadequate management of psychiatric conditions of detainees, and overcrowding and poor conditions in Romanian mental health facilities.

When Jail & Prison Sentences Become Death Sentences: How Willfully Exposing Incarcerated Persons To Covid-19 Amounts To Cruel & Unusual Punishment, Arielle Aboulafia

Human Rights Brief

Eric Warner called his older brother Hank from San Quentin State Prison almost every Sunday. Though the prison only allowed the brothers to speak for fifteen minutes each week, the two spoke about their lives. In June 2021, Eric stopped calling, and Hank became worried. Hank tried to get in touch with the prison. However, his calls were met with a dead-end voicemail each time. He recalls that he “knew, by not hearing anything, that something was not good.” The following month, prison personnel returned Hank’s calls and told him that his brother Eric had been hospitalized. Later that month, …

Fostering Production Of Pharmaceutical Products In Developing Countries, William Fisher, Ruth L. Okediji, Padmashree Gehl Sampath

Michigan Journal of International Law

The ways in which pharmaceutical products are currently developed, manufactured, and distributed fail to meet the needs of developing countries. The recent emergence of new infectious diseases, the associated surge of healthcare nationalism, and the prevalence of substandard and falsified drugs have strengthened substantially the net benefits of augmenting the capacity of developing countries to produce such products locally. Most previous efforts to do so have foundered. The chance of success in the future would be maximized by the adoption of five strategies : (a) clarifying the zones of discretion created by the relevant treaties to ensure that local firms …

A Prescription For Crisis: Opioids, Patients, And The Controlled Substances Act, Dennis Davis

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Pandemic Instrument Can Start Turning Collective Problems Into Collective Solutions By Governing The Common-Pool Resource Of Antimicrobial Effectiveness, Isaac Weldon, Kathy Liddell, Susan Rogers Van Katwyk, Steven J. Hoffman, Timo Minssen, Kevin Outterson, Stephanie Palmer, A. M. Viens, Jorge Viñuales

Faculty Scholarship

To address the complex challenge of global antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a pandemic treaty should include mechanisms that 1) equitably address the access gap for antimicrobials, diagnostic technologies, and alternative therapies; 2) equitably conserve antimicrobials to sustain effectiveness and access across time and space; 3) equitably finance the investment, discovery, development, and distribution of new technologies; and 4) equitably finance and establish greater upstream and midstream infection prevention measures globally. Biodiversity, climate, and nuclear governance offer lessons for addressing these challenges.

Introduction: Amr Belongs In The Pandemic Instrument, Susan Rogers Van Katwyk, Kevin Outterson

Faculty Scholarship

In the wake of COVID-19, the World Health Organization established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to negotiate a new instrument for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. This special issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics brings together multidisciplinary scholarship to address the question of whether antimicrobial resistance should be included in this new instrument. Drawing from disciplines including law, anthropology, history, public health, public policy, economics, and veterinary medicine, this special issue explores the inclusion of AMR within the Pandemic Instrument from three perspectives: first, through the lens of global AMR governance, second, from the perspective of technical governance …

Abortion Experts, Aziza Ahmed

Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade,¹ has intensified the fight for access to medication abortion. ² As state governors put emergency orders into place limiting health care provisions to essential services, some also limited access to abortion, designating it a nonessential service. ³ In the face of these challenges, women's health advocates, in keeping with prior advocacy, have called for greater access to medication abortion.⁴ The increased reliance on telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic provides new possibilities for the provision of abortion medication that do not rely on a patient engaging in-person at a …

Trust, Brutality, And Human Dignity: How “Partial Birth Abortion” Helps Shape American Biopolitics, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I explore how nearly continuous public rhetorical challenges to abortion in the political realm first led the public and the courts to turn away from a particular abortion procedure (intact dilation and extraction, also known as partial-birth abortion) which political agitators labeled as “barbaric” and then to view physicians who performed abortions not as legitimate professionals, but simply as “abortionists,” and sometimes as evil “Frankensteins.” “Abortionists” use no “medical judgment” and are unworthy of deference by state legislatures, Congress, or the courts when deciding how or when to perform an abortion. The concentration on the welfare of …

E-Racing Tobacco & Nicotine-Related Health Disparities, Michael Ulrich

Faculty Scholarship

In the past, tobacco companies used targeted advertising to integrate menthol cigarettes and addict the Black community, generating tobacco-related health disparities. As Juul has come under attack, they have utilized the tobacco playbook to protect itself and deflect criticism by donating to a historically Black medical school and recruiting leaders in the Black community. This helped to create a "Black shield" for menthol cigarettes, which are only now at risk of being regulated, and has the potential to do the same in the vape industry. If proactive steps are not undertaken, health tobacco-related health disparities will continue.

First Amendment Challenges To State Vaccine Mandats: Why The U.S. Supreme Court Should Hold That The Free Exercise Clause Does Not Require Religious Exemptions, Donna M. Gitter

American University Law Review

The U.S. Supreme Court has never issued a judicial opinion on the merits declaring that the First Amendment Free Exercise Clause permits states to mandate vaccinations without offering religious exemptions. However, in two recent cases, the Court in brief orders declined applications for emergency relief to block state vaccine mandates, and the petitioners have vowed to continue to pursue these cases.

This Article explores how the seemingly sudden onset of the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with its protracted duration, has occasioned both emergency and enduring state regulation of religious behavior in a way that exposes deep divides in our society’s views …

A Review On Drug Regulation Policy In The Netherlands And India: The History Of Current Policy Development, And Policy Analysis, Tapashi Adhikary, Pratik Kumar Bal, Kumar Sumit

Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences

Background

Drug use and illicit trafficking of drugs have been a common problem in both the Netherlands and India since historical times. The Dutch Drug Policy (DDP) model is a combination of both leniency and strict laws whereas the Indian Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) went from being a stringent policy in the past to a more flexible lenient policy in recent years. The objective of the current review was to explore the history of the development of the Netherlands and India's drug regulating policies, followed by the analysis of the policies using the Walt & Gilson …

A Zebra's Trust: How Rare Disease Communities' Participation In Data Trusts' Governance Builds Trust And Drives Research, Samantha C. Smith

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Data sharing plays an increasingly prominent role in society, but it remains a necessary component of rare disease research. Because rare diseases are--as the name indicates-- rare, researchers have only a small number of patients from whom to collect data, and the expense of cross-border data sharing to increase research data is significant. Nevertheless, the rise of artificial intelligence and precision medicine increases the need for usable rare disease data. Current legislation and regulations aimed at addressing rare diseases fall short in addressing these data sharing needs for rare disease research. While the European Union (EU) has invested in rare …

Your Body, Your Cells? Direct-To-Consumer Marketing Of Autologous Stem Cell Therapies In The United States, Japan, And Australia, Kathleen C. Laird

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Stem cell tourism has relocated; patients in search of stem cell therapies to treat nearly any disease can find clinics selling miracle cures without traveling beyond their national borders. Businesses marketing unproven autologous stem cell therapies are now plentiful in highly regulated, wealthy countries, including the United States, Japan, and Australia. Despite regulatory oversight of stem cell therapies and strong support for scientific innovation in these countries, the internet and social media have facilitated the rapid growth and success of a new industry selling unproven treatments directly to consumers. Clinics selling unproven autologous stem cell therapies have succeeded by developing …

The Duties Of Occupying Powers In Relation To The Prevention And Control Of Contagious Diseases Through The Interplay Between International Humanitarian Law And The Right To Health, Dr. Marco Longobardo

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article explores the rules governing the prevention and control of contagious diseases in occupied territory under international law. Although the Article refers to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, its scope is broader and encompasses instances of state practice that have occurred over the last two centuries. After a careful analysis of the relevant treaties and episodes of state practice, the Article concludes that occupying powers have duties under international humanitarian law and international human rights law to prevent and control contagious diseases, through cooperating with the local authorities and bringing the necessary medical supplies in the occupied territory. The Article …